The Films score

Posted: Thursday, August 18, 2005

By Kenneth AguarCorrespondent

Charleston-based band The Films aspire to make motion pictures with songs. Their visual brand of punk-pop is cinematic in scope, and the catchy songs get in your head and stay there. There are four members or musical directors, if you will, consisting of Michael Trent (vocals, guitar), Kenneth Harris (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Jake Sinclair (bass, vocals), and Adam Blake (drums).

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The group formed in Denver, while they still were teenagers.

"We all went to the same high school and played in different bands," Trent says. "Kenny, Adam and I started playing together and moved to Charleston two years ago. Jake was living in Los Angeles doing some session playing and working for the great John Tesh, of all people. He obviously wasn't happy where he was, and we needed a bass player, so we moved him out to Charleston to live with us and play in our band."

At the time, the members were calling themselves Tinker's Punishment, named after one member's dog, Tinker, who was very old and had to be put to sleep. But they decided against the name, however, because it was such a good dog.

Eventually, feeling they'd outgrown their previous moniker, the band renamed themselves The Films, a name, Trent says, "was on the top of a heap of lousy names like Darth Vapor and The Vajonnys."

The Films cut their teeth by playing a Tuesday night residency at The Vintage, a club in Charleston, where they performed mostly acoustic cover song by The Beatles, The Zombies, The Kinks, The Cure (singer Michael Trent sounds a lot like a young Robert Smith) and others.

Though they have yet to produce their first record, The Films have held down a heavy touring schedule throughout the Southeast and amassed a devoted following on the college circuit, selling out clubs in Charleston. And, based on the strength of their seven-song demo, the band recently signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records. Their music also has been featured on MTV's "Pimp My Ride," "Punk'd," "Newlyweds," and "Dismissed."

"To me," Trent says regarding the band's music, "it's all about the melody. It's my favorite thing about music. If I hate the melody, I hate the song. As a rule, I try to write songs that I don't hate."